Historic Beer Ads

Beer In Ads #5146: Something Wonderful! tinyurl.com/usurh77k

"Put a napkin under that churchkey, this is a classy beer!"

Horlacher (Allentown, PA), 1959

Crown cap against a white background. Cap is red with the New Belgium logo printed over it in white, showing an outline of a touring bicycle in the center, with "New Belgium Brewing" written around the rim.

Better Know a Beer Cap #84: New Belgium's default cap design.

We can question your shades of white, but we can't question your place in the craft beer pantheon.

And no matter how many Voodoo Ranger spinoffs you put out, I'll always remember you came from a Fat Tire, and an amber one at that.

A vintage advertisement showcasing a smiling domestic worker holding a bottle of beer, surrounded by a blue ribbon motif. The ad emphasizes the quality and blend of the product and promotes a radio show. "Tis a fine Missus I'm workin' for!" Pabst Blue Ribbon "IT'S BLENDED...IT'S SPLENDID!" Copr. 1947, Pabst Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wise. TUNE IN THE EDDIE CANTOR SHOW EVERY THURSDAY NIGHT, OVER NBC 33 FINE BREWS BLENDED INTO ONE GREAT BEER

From America, Mar 1947: Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer ad from Pabst Brewing Company (more at @OldInPrintAds.bsky.social)

«"Tis a fine Missus I'm workin' for!" Pabst Blue Ribbon "IT'S BLENDED...IT'S SPLENDID!"»

2016 ad for Champagne Velvet beer. Shows a bottle of beer front and center. Behind it is a photo of six friends (5 white men and one white woman) in an outdoor hot tub at night, holding up sparklers. One is holding another bottle of beer.

Upland Brewing (Bloomington, IN) ad for its revival of legacy brand Champagne Velvet. From 2016, meaning this walked so today's myriad craft light lagers could run.

Given CV's history, I actually love how the tagline feels like it was lifted right out of a 1950s supermarket ad.

Crown cap against a white background. Cap is red with the New Belgium logo printed over it in white, showing an outline of a touring bicycle in the center, with "New Belgium Brewing" written around the rim.

Better Know a Beer Cap #84: New Belgium's default cap design.

We can question your shades of white, but we can't question your place in the craft beer pantheon.

And no matter how many Voodoo Ranger spinoffs you put out, I'll always remember you came from a Fat Tire, and an amber one at that.

"Put a napkin under that churchkey, this is a classy beer!"

Horlacher (Allentown, PA), 1959

Black and white magazine ad, showing two empty bottles of Beamish & Crawford, one on its side. Caption reads: "Dead Men Tell Tales -- And the work that's getting back to us is satisfaction! Admittedly, we've done a good job. That's why new Beamish is catching on so fast. That's why the public are leaving so many dead men about. That's why the gentlemen of the trade are asking for more stocks. Needless to remark, we're backing with extensive advertising -- which reminds us, have you got your personal display rack yet? If not, write to the publicity department...It seems we're not the only ones who think Beamish is Better, or that Business is Better with Beamish!"

1964 Beamish & Crawford ad that's got really weird takes on death, littering, and capitalization.

Also em dashes, which means they hopped on the AI train earrrrly.

Thank you! This is really interesting to learn. I probably bought all these around the Midwest, so maybe shipments were coming from a mix of both locations.

No markings on the undersides. The outer rim on each cap has a small mark that says "dap" + a number, but maybe that pertains to the plastic liner?

The Reddit gurus tell me this is just normal color variation between batches, also that my caps are gaslighting me and I should divorce them.

*sobbing*

but doctor, I am the uncle...

I've, ahem, collected *many* caps of a few specific breweries in my time, and variation/discoloration in the same design absolutely happen. This doesn't feel like one of those times, though I can't be sure.

Crown cap against a white background. Cap is red with the New Belgium logo printed over it in white, showing an outline of a touring bicycle in the center, with "New Belgium Brewing" written around the rim.

Crown cap against a white background. Cap is the same design as the previous photo, except that the white portions appear in a creamy beige color instead. I am unsure whether this is an intentional design change or discoloration between batches of caps.

Serious question: Are these two different New Belgium bottle caps?

In other words, is this normal color variation between batches of caps ordered, or did New Belgium change its background color from white to that creamy beige at one point?

I've seen multiple caps in both(?) colors.

2016 ad for Champagne Velvet beer. Shows a bottle of beer front and center. Behind it is a photo of six friends (5 white men and one white woman) in an outdoor hot tub at night, holding up sparklers. One is holding another bottle of beer.

Upland Brewing (Bloomington, IN) ad for its revival of legacy brand Champagne Velvet. From 2016, meaning this walked so today's myriad craft light lagers could run.

Given CV's history, I actually love how the tagline feels like it was lifted right out of a 1950s supermarket ad.

Seven crown caps in a staggered row. All are from the Planets Series that Bell's Brewing put out in the mid 2010s. Most are in the same format of a solid color cap with a blocky, retro digital looking font offering the name of the planet. From left to right: Mercury in dark brown, Venus in bright goldenrod, Mars in burnt orange, Mars again but in black with an image of the planet and no writing (the only exception to the usual cap design), Saturn in flat yellow akin to an old highlighter, Uranus in cobalt blue, and Neptune in a purplish blue.

I'll give each their own dedicated post in time, but I've collected nearly all the caps from the Bell's Planets Series of the mid 2010s. This remains one of my favorite things craft beer has ever done.

All that's missing is Jupiter, which seems to be a very hard cap to find.

2019 photo of the exterior of a building along a Cleveland highway. An old painted ad on the building's brick is for Gold Bond beer, reading "You'll prefer Gold Bond--the Special Beer" Above it is a scaffolded billboard for Bug Light, with the tagline "100% less corn syrup than Coors Light."

Maybe I will...

(Cleveland, 2019)

Art & Nationality 🍻

(or maybe nationalism, I forget)

That six pack wasn't a mix pack.

(Schlitz, 1978)

2019 photo of the exterior of a building along a Cleveland highway. An old painted ad on the building's brick is for Gold Bond beer, reading "You'll prefer Gold Bond--the Special Beer" Above it is a scaffolded billboard for Bug Light, with the tagline "100% less corn syrup than Coors Light."

Maybe I will...

(Cleveland, 2019)

The resemblance is uncanning.

This advertisement is for Barclay's Lager, available in both light and dark varieties, and is shown being poured into a glass. To quench your thirst The best remark Is Barclay's Lager- Light or Dark THE DRINK FOR EVERY KIND OF THIRST

Mar 1929: Lager ad from Barclay's

«To quench your thirst
The best remark
Is Barclay's Lager-
Light or Dark»

Seven crown caps in a staggered row. All are from the Planets Series that Bell's Brewing put out in the mid 2010s. Most are in the same format of a solid color cap with a blocky, retro digital looking font offering the name of the planet. From left to right: Mercury in dark brown, Venus in bright goldenrod, Mars in burnt orange, Mars again but in black with an image of the planet and no writing (the only exception to the usual cap design), Saturn in flat yellow akin to an old highlighter, Uranus in cobalt blue, and Neptune in a purplish blue.

I'll give each their own dedicated post in time, but I've collected nearly all the caps from the Bell's Planets Series of the mid 2010s. This remains one of my favorite things craft beer has ever done.

All that's missing is Jupiter, which seems to be a very hard cap to find.

Poster ad for Astra beer. Depicts two douchy/snobby looking young men on a tennis court, wearing country-club type tennis clothing and holding glasses of white wine. Tagline reads "Astra warnt vor Schägertypen!" which translates to something like "Astra reminding you to beware of thugs." But this is a delicious pun, because while Schlägertyp is a German term for "thug type," playing tennis is referred to in German as "Tennis schlagen." So Astra's warning against elitist country club assholes whose dad can, like, fire your dad, bruh.

Astra reminding you to beware of "Schlägertypen" or "thug types."

I consider this one of the funnier beer ads I've seen, with an unusual streak of socioeconomic commentary (laudatory).

(I explain a bit more in alt text)

Crown cap against white background. Cap is silver with red Budweiser crown at the top, drawn as if sketched by a red crayon. Beneath that is the word "Select," then "55 calories" below that.

Better Know a Beer Cap #83: Bud Select 55, a discontinued and now obsolete one-up on Miller 64.

From that romantic, bygone stretch of the early 2000s where calorie conscious drinkers hadn't yet discovered Michelob Ultra, yet still thought Bud Light was just too dang viscous.

Poster ad for Astra beer. Depicts two douchy/snobby looking young men on a tennis court, wearing country-club type tennis clothing and holding glasses of white wine. Tagline reads "Astra warnt vor Schägertypen!" which translates to something like "Astra reminding you to beware of thugs." But this is a delicious pun, because while Schlägertyp is a German term for "thug type," playing tennis is referred to in German as "Tennis schlagen." So Astra's warning against elitist country club assholes whose dad can, like, fire your dad, bruh.

Astra reminding you to beware of "Schlägertypen" or "thug types."

I consider this one of the funnier beer ads I've seen, with an unusual streak of socioeconomic commentary (laudatory).

(I explain a bit more in alt text)

Crown cap against white background. Cap is red with thin black border. In center is a logo that is a black letter A, where the horizontal cross stroke is made to look like a stick with a cloth bundle on the end, like might be carried by a transient person. The bundle has a gold letter J on it.

Crown cap against white background. Cap is blue with thin black border. In center is a logo that is a black letter A, where the horizontal cross stroke is made to look like a stick with a cloth bundle on the end, like might be carried by a transient person. The bundle has a gold letter J on it.

Better Know a Beer Cap #81-82: Johnny Appleseed hard cider, circa 2014.

A wholly astroturfed Anheuser-Busch creation, a counter (I assume) to Angry Orchard. Looks like the brand was discontinued around 2017-2018.

cc @discontinuedfoods.bsky.social

Budweiser ad depicting four Black men in a 1950s or 60s style kitchen. One man is at the table eating a sandwich and talking to a second. The other two are standing in separate conversation by the refrigerator, holding glasses and bottles of Budweiser. The caption reads "the neighbors...out in the kitchen, swapping ideas with good friends. This is fun...and this calls for Budweiser."

Budweiser, likely from a mag like Ebony, but I'm not 100% sure. Unknown date.

If anyone has one of these caps lying around I'd love to discuss a trade.

😍